YMMV / Super Mario Kart

• Awesome Video Game Levels: The original Rainbow Road, being an unique level unlike anything that came before it back when the game was released, inspired by the Star World in Super Mario World, it is set in the sky with no rails of any kind and a true test of mastery of the game's controls and mechanics, with an awesome theme to boot that laid the foundation for all others that would follow and gets your blood pumping while at the same time having an epic final challenge sort of feel.
• Base-Breaking Character: Some say he is a good character, but it seems everyone either loves or hates Koopa. Toad also counts, to a certain extent.
• Demonic Spiders: Heaven help you if Mario or Luigi decide they want to be in first place^note Good luck playing as Bowser in Grand Prix mode, because both of them are fixed to be the toughest racers unless if you get one of them in a lower place at the last minute. Playing as Koopa Troopa has Luigi as the toughest racer, and Yoshi has Mario as the second toughest racer. . With their infinite stars, you will never stop them unless luck is really on your side (which it usually isn't). Bowser isn't any better since the fireballs (CPU only) he throws do a circular motion at all times, so if he throws that thing near a turn, you're probably screwed.
• Game-Breaker:
  • Lightning is by far the most powerful item in the game: it shrinks down every racer but the user, severely reducing their speed and allowing the user to run them over. It lasts much longer than in any other Mario Kart game, too—about 30 seconds! You'll typically go straight from 8th place to 1st if you get one.
  • The Feather often allows racers to jump over walls for huge shortcuts (akin to the "Ultra shortcuts" from latter games) in a game where traditional shortcuts are rare and minimal. Because of this, the TAS abuses it to no end.
  • The heavy characters (Bowser and Donkey Kong Jr.), despite their low acceleration, have the highest top speeds in the game. For expert players, Bowser and DK Jr. are easily the best choices for tearing through courses at top speed— provided they don't hit anything. The inverse is true for the lighter characters (Toad and Koopa)— they have better acceleration, but their top speeds aren't as high as the heavyweights.
• Goddamned Bats:
  • Plenty of obstacles, but particularly the Monty Moles that malevolently jump out of their holes just in time to hit your kart, stop your momentum entirely, and slow you down until you press R enough.
  • The special neon Thwomps on Rainbow Road count as well because they don't only crush you, but can spin you up like Mario and Luigi CPUs do.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The loud "BANG! SKIIIIDD!" noise when you crack an opponent with a red shell and the Mushroom's unique boost noise are still dang satisfying even after a quarter century.
• Nausea Fuel: It's easy to get motion sickness from all the driving, the moving backgrounds, and the crazy colors of Rainbow Road. Interestingly enough, this was actually a fear during a beta version of Battle Mode, as the maps were far more open, meaning drivers would have a lot more free reign.
• Nintendo Hard:
  • Due to the awkward drifting mechanic present in this game and Super Circuit,^note You can only make inwards drifting and not switch between inwards and outwards drifting with the Control Pad, and to boost, you must straighten yourself out by allowing the game to gradually straighten you out to receive your boost, signaled by your engine revving up for a second. combined with the slippery controls and limited availability of items (one per lap, unless the player hits a second item panel that are not commonly seen in the tracks of Super Mario Kart), anything past 50cc will definitely prove to be difficult even for players that can master the non-Mode 7 games. 150cc takes the icing on the cake for not only do you go insanely fast (and the slippery controls make it even more difficult), but the AI will go just as fast, if not faster.
  • The best demonstration of this trope at work would be Rainbow Road. Completing this track in the 150cc Special Cup is incredibly difficult because the track is surrounded by a Bottomless Pit, and unlike the Ghost Valley tracks it has no paving to stop you driving off the track at any points. Plus, the Thwomps from the Bowser Castle stages with an added bonus - they flash with invincibility, so if you hit them you don't bounce off, you spin out, often all the way off the track. It's incredibly easy to go from 1st place with a flying lead to 8th with no way back in the space of a few seconds.
• Once Original, Now Common: With how much the series has evolved, a lot of modern players find trouble in appreciating the game that started it all due to how primitive it can feel when compared to its successors. Between the far simpler track layouts, the reuse of course themes (a grand total of one track has a theme that appears only once, Rainbow Road), the fact the game can only be played with two players in a series so well known for entertaining parties, and the much more finicky controls often all take people by surprise.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The fact that the game is always in split-screen, even in single-player mode, where the map takes up half the screen is seen as unnecessarily cluttered.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: The game has one built-in, pressing Y+A on the character select, you can shrink your racer. This makes you vulnerable to being crushed if a computer so much as touches you, but does not slow you down like enemy mushrooms do.
• That One Level:
  • As the introduction to Special Cup, Donut Plains 3 fits this trope because of the double hairpin and the narrow broken bridges, plus the aforementioned Monty Moles which can be found here.
  • Rainbow Road puts the former track back to shame due to the total lack of guardrails between you and the Bottomless Pit, the exceedingly narrow track, and special neon Thwomps that can wipe you out at the slightest touch.
• Unexpected Character: Donkey Kong Jr., who had not appeared in a game for a decade when this was released. Furthermore, the devs chose Jr. instead of his much more famous father.

---